diff --git a/cpp/include/cudf/detail/interop.hpp b/cpp/include/cudf/detail/interop.hpp
index 44024333239..8124471982d 100644
--- a/cpp/include/cudf/detail/interop.hpp
+++ b/cpp/include/cudf/detail/interop.hpp
@@ -194,5 +194,18 @@ std::unique_ptr<table> from_arrow(arrow::Table const& input_table,
 std::unique_ptr<cudf::scalar> from_arrow(arrow::Scalar const& input,
                                          rmm::cuda_stream_view stream,
                                          rmm::mr::device_memory_resource* mr);
+
+/**
+ * @brief Return a maximum precision for a given type.
+ *
+ * @tparam T the type to get the maximum precision for
+ */
+template <typename T>
+constexpr std::size_t max_precision()
+{
+  auto constexpr num_bits = sizeof(T) * 8;
+  return std::floor(num_bits * std::log(2) / std::log(10));
+}
+
 }  // namespace detail
 }  // namespace cudf
diff --git a/cpp/include/cudf/interop.hpp b/cpp/include/cudf/interop.hpp
index 865cc004107..2ee6f19614d 100644
--- a/cpp/include/cudf/interop.hpp
+++ b/cpp/include/cudf/interop.hpp
@@ -129,6 +129,12 @@ struct column_metadata {
  * @param stream CUDA stream used for device memory operations and kernel launches
  * @param ar_mr arrow memory pool to allocate memory for arrow Table
  * @return arrow Table generated from `input`
+ *
+ * @note For decimals, since the precision is not stored for them in libcudf,
+ * it will be converted to an Arrow decimal128 that has the widest-precision the cudf decimal type
+ * supports. For example, numeric::decimal32 will be converted to Arrow decimal128 of the precision
+ * 9 which is the maximum precision for 32-bit types. Similarly, numeric::decimal128 will be
+ * converted to Arrow decimal128 of the precision 38.
  */
 std::shared_ptr<arrow::Table> to_arrow(table_view input,
                                        std::vector<column_metadata> const& metadata = {},
@@ -145,6 +151,12 @@ std::shared_ptr<arrow::Table> to_arrow(table_view input,
  * @param stream CUDA stream used for device memory operations and kernel launches
  * @param ar_mr arrow memory pool to allocate memory for arrow Scalar
  * @return arrow Scalar generated from `input`
+ *
+ * @note For decimals, since the precision is not stored for them in libcudf,
+ * it will be converted to an Arrow decimal128 that has the widest-precision the cudf decimal type
+ * supports. For example, numeric::decimal32 will be converted to Arrow decimal128 of the precision
+ * 9 which is the maximum precision for 32-bit types. Similarly, numeric::decimal128 will be
+ * converted to Arrow decimal128 of the precision 38.
  */
 std::shared_ptr<arrow::Scalar> to_arrow(cudf::scalar const& input,
                                         column_metadata const& metadata = {},
diff --git a/cpp/src/interop/to_arrow.cu b/cpp/src/interop/to_arrow.cu
index 0cd750bc947..28230cf8e74 100644
--- a/cpp/src/interop/to_arrow.cu
+++ b/cpp/src/interop/to_arrow.cu
@@ -197,7 +197,9 @@ std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> dispatch_to_arrow::operator()<numeric::decimal32>(
   arrow::MemoryPool* ar_mr,
   rmm::cuda_stream_view stream)
 {
-  return unsupported_decimals_to_arrow<int32_t>(input, 9, ar_mr, stream);
+  using DeviceType = int32_t;
+  return unsupported_decimals_to_arrow<DeviceType>(
+    input, cudf::detail::max_precision<DeviceType>(), ar_mr, stream);
 }
 
 template <>
@@ -208,7 +210,9 @@ std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> dispatch_to_arrow::operator()<numeric::decimal64>(
   arrow::MemoryPool* ar_mr,
   rmm::cuda_stream_view stream)
 {
-  return unsupported_decimals_to_arrow<int64_t>(input, 18, ar_mr, stream);
+  using DeviceType = int64_t;
+  return unsupported_decimals_to_arrow<DeviceType>(
+    input, cudf::detail::max_precision<DeviceType>(), ar_mr, stream);
 }
 
 template <>
@@ -219,7 +223,8 @@ std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> dispatch_to_arrow::operator()<numeric::decimal128>
   arrow::MemoryPool* ar_mr,
   rmm::cuda_stream_view stream)
 {
-  using DeviceType = __int128_t;
+  using DeviceType         = __int128_t;
+  auto const max_precision = cudf::detail::max_precision<DeviceType>();
 
   rmm::device_uvector<DeviceType> buf(input.size(), stream);
 
@@ -234,7 +239,7 @@ std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> dispatch_to_arrow::operator()<numeric::decimal128>
   CUDF_CUDA_TRY(cudaMemcpyAsync(
     data_buffer->mutable_data(), buf.data(), buf_size_in_bytes, cudaMemcpyDefault, stream.value()));
 
-  auto type    = arrow::decimal(18, -input.type().scale());
+  auto type    = arrow::decimal(max_precision, -input.type().scale());
   auto mask    = fetch_mask_buffer(input, ar_mr, stream);
   auto buffers = std::vector<std::shared_ptr<arrow::Buffer>>{mask, std::move(data_buffer)};
   auto data    = std::make_shared<arrow::ArrayData>(type, input.size(), buffers);
diff --git a/cpp/tests/interop/arrow_utils.hpp b/cpp/tests/interop/arrow_utils.hpp
index fc8f5b37f7e..2c5f7458ce5 100644
--- a/cpp/tests/interop/arrow_utils.hpp
+++ b/cpp/tests/interop/arrow_utils.hpp
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ template <typename T>
   auto constexpr BIT_WIDTH_RATIO = sizeof(__int128_t) / sizeof(T);
 
   std::shared_ptr<arrow::Array> arr;
-  arrow::Decimal128Builder decimal_builder(arrow::decimal(18, -scale),
+  arrow::Decimal128Builder decimal_builder(arrow::decimal(cudf::detail::max_precision<T>(), -scale),
                                            arrow::default_memory_pool());
 
   for (T i = 0; i < static_cast<T>(data.size() / BIT_WIDTH_RATIO); ++i) {
diff --git a/cpp/tests/interop/to_arrow_test.cpp b/cpp/tests/interop/to_arrow_test.cpp
index 6bb4cdfd747..d6762e70d80 100644
--- a/cpp/tests/interop/to_arrow_test.cpp
+++ b/cpp/tests/interop/to_arrow_test.cpp
@@ -604,7 +604,9 @@ struct ToArrowDecimalScalarTest : public cudf::test::BaseFixture {};
 TEST_F(ToArrowDecimalScalarTest, Basic)
 {
   auto const value{42};
-  auto const precision{18};  // cudf will convert to the widest-precision Arrow scalar of the type
+  auto const precision =
+    cudf::detail::max_precision<__int128_t>();  // cudf will convert to the widest-precision Arrow
+                                                // scalar of the type
   int32_t const scale{4};
 
   auto const cudf_scalar =